Heart of Lincoln Land

Lincoln Apparel’s latest T-shirt, "Young Mr. Lincoln", features bright colors and lines and a vibrant portrait of Abraham Lincoln – perfect for celebrating Lincoln’s Birthday. Copyright © 2010 Lincoln Apparel.

Saturday is Lincoln’s Birthday, so be sure to celebrate it! Here is a list of all of the events I can find in Springfield for Lincoln’s 202nd Birthday. Note that all of these are free, unless otherwise noted. Be sure to check out my Lincoln T-shirts at Springfield Novelties and Gifts, 229 S. 6th St. (near Monroe Street) in historic downtown Springfield while you’re attending, they’d be perfect for this (or any) occasion!

Thursday, February 10th, 2011:

• 7 pm – "Tad Lincoln’s Father", a one-woman performance, will be showing at the Vachel Lindsay Home at 5th and Edwards. A light dessert will precede it at 6:30.

Friday, February 11th, 2011:

• 9 am – "Lincoln’s Emotional Life" discussion with Lincoln author Michael Burlingame at Lincoln Land Community College Trutter Center.
• 9 am – The kickoff to the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s inaugural trip in 1861 begins at Grace Lutheran Church at 7th and Capitol (near the Lincoln Home Visitor Center); Springfield Lincoln re-enactor Fritz Klein will be portraying Abraham Lincoln.
• 10:30 am – Lincoln (portrayed by Fritz Klein) will depart from his home at 8th and Jackson to head for the Great Western Railroad depot at 10th and Monroe, where he will leave his hometown of Springfield for his inaugural journey to Washington, DC.

• 11 am – A simultaneous reading of Lincoln’s Farewell Address (one of his most beautiful speeches, in my opinion) will occur at the Great Western Depot (now known as the Lincoln Depot). There will be an attempt to break the world record for the most people reading the same document aloud simultaneously, so people across the country are being asked to recite it, too. (The world record is 223,363 participants reading aloud from "Charlotte’s Web" in 2006.) You can participate here: http://www.state.il.us/streaming/hpa/hpa-live.asx or on the Springfield State Journal-Register’s website here: http://extras.sj-r.com/r/depot

  A similar attempt was made in 2009 with the Gettysburg Address, but it fell short. Note that since the Farewell Address is even shorter than the Gettysburg Address, the document will be read multiple times, because the Guinness Book of World Records requires the reading to be at least 5 minutes long.

• 12:00 noon – "Jameson Jenkins: The Man Lincoln Knew", a presentation at the Lincoln Land Community College East Campus near 15th and Cook, will show Abraham Lincoln and Jameson Jenkins, a conductor on the Underground Railroad who lived in Lincoln’s neighborhood, helped slaves escape to freedom. Jason Boyd will be portraying Jameson Jenkins.
• 1 pm – "Women’s 1860s Clothing", a presentation on the clothing styles and fashion of the 1860s, will occur at the Lincoln Home Visitor’s Center at 7th and Jackson.
• 1 pm – "Children’s Toys of the 1860s" – also at the Lincoln Home Visitor’s Center, a presentation and demonstration of toys kids played with in Lincoln’s time (including toys the Lincolns played with).
• 2 pm – Mary Lincoln re-enactor Pam Brown will reminisce about her life in Springfield at the Lincoln Home Visitor’s Center in a program entitled "Mary Lincoln’s Memories".
• 3 pm – "Never Lose Sight of Freedom", a short film about the Civil Rights movement, will be shown at the Lincoln Home Visitor’s Center.
• 6:30 pm – The Abraham Lincoln Association’s keynote speaker, Michael Holt, will discuss "Lincoln’s Mistakes as President Elect" at Brookens Auditorium at UIS.

A few of my colorful "Back to Springfield" Lincoln T-shirts, originally done for the Lincoln Bicentennial, are still left – and they’re perfect for Lincoln’s Birthday. Copyright © 2008 Lincoln Apparel.

Saturday, February 12th, 2011 – Lincoln’s 202nd Birthday:

• 8:30 am – the annual Painter Lectures at the Lincoln Home. This year, Lincoln’s relationship with three central Illinois communities – Bloomington, Pittsfield, and Charleston – will be discussed by Guy Fraker, Wayne Temple, and the staff of the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, respectively. The Springfield African American History Foundation will be discussed by Douglas King.
• 8:30 to 11:30 – Robert Bray will sign copies of his book "Reading with Lincoln" at the Lincoln Home Visitor’s Center
• 10 am to 3 pm – Abraham Lincoln Birthday Party at the National Museum of Surveying, which opened late last year on the north side of the Old State Capitol square on the 500 block of East Washington Street.
• 11 am – Annual American Legion pilgrimage to the Lincoln Tomb
• 11 am – Annual Abraham Lincoln Association Symposium at the Old State Capitol. This year, "Lincoln and the Election of 1860" will be discussed by Jonathan Earle, and "Lincoln, Civil Liberties and Dissent" will be discussed by Jonathan White.
• 1 pm – Abraham Lincoln Association luncheon. Russell McClintock will discuss "Lincoln and the Coming of the War". This is sold out.
• 2 pm – Valentine Open House at the Vachel Lindsay Home hosted by Mary Lincoln’s sister, Ann (portrayed by Kathy Reed); period refreshments will be served. At 2:45, Ann will reminisce about her relationship with Mary and her family.
• 2:30 pm – Abraham Lincoln Symposium Roundtable at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library featuring speakers Jonathan Earle, Michael Holt, Russell McClintock, and Jonathan White (with Brooks Simpson as moderator).
• 2:30 pm – Annual VFW pilgrimage to the Lincoln Tomb
• 5 pm – Reception to benefit the endowment for the Abraham Lincoln Association at the Crowne Plaza Hotel ($75)
• 6:30 pm – The annual Abraham Lincoln Association Banquet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel featuring Allen Guelzo, author of "Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation" (a book I have – I believe it won the Lincoln Prize) and "Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President". The State Journal Register says this costs $85, a few tickets are still available, and I’m not sure if the $85 includes the $75 for the reception or not. The ALA website (via the above link) makes it look as if the $75 is for the whole thing. I’m also not sure why they don’t hold it at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel downtown like they used to.

Sunday, February 13th, 2011:

• 8:30 am – Lincoln’s Birthday Worship Service at the First Presbyterian Church (the church the Lincolns attended, at 7th and Capitol)

That’s all the events that I know of. I’ll likely be at many of them, including the Painter Lectures, the Symposium and the simultaneous reading of the Farewell Address. In fact, I would’ve come out with a Farewell Address Lincoln T-shirt design but over the holidays I forgot about it and now it’s a little late. I’ll probably still do one anyway because I like that speech. Right now I’m working on getting the "Purpose" design reprinted – there will be new colors added to the design this time – I’ll let you know about that and other plans for Lincoln Apparel this year after the holiday weekend. Have fun on Lincoln’s Birthday this year and be sure to check out – and wear – my Lincoln Apparel T-shirts!

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Lincoln Apparel’s new "Wide Awake Club" T-shirt, intended to look like how a Lincoln campaign T-shirt might have in 1860. Copyright © 2010 Lincoln Apparel.

This has been a busy summer so far for Lincoln Apparel, and I’m enjoying it. I’ve released two new designs – "Wide Awake Club", which was created for the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s election this year, and a yellow version of my popular "80s Abe" T-shirt, which has also been reprinted and restocked in its three original colors as well (no longer are any of the sizes "temporarily out of stock"). All of these shirts are now available on the Lincoln Apparel website, as well as locally at Springfield Novelties and Gifts on 6th Street and at the Old Capitol Farmer’s Market artisan area each Saturday.

The “Wide Awake Club” T-shirt has a lot of history behind it, and it was designed to resemble an 1860 Lincoln campaign banner or poster. In fact, during the creation of the shirt, I researched what many of these looked like, and incorporated their design style or elements into the design.

Before you ask, the "Wide Awakes" were localized, grassroots groups of young Lincoln supporters during the 1860 presidential campaign, thus the name of the T-shirt (and the reason why it says "Wide Awake Club"). I’ve already gotten asked this quite a bit, and I enjoy educating people about this (and other bits) of Lincoln history (my T-shirts do make great conversational pieces!). In fact, the "Wide Awakes" themselves had their own banners, with each club having a different design that was specific to their locality. One such banner is on display in the Old State Capitol, near the governor’s office. (It reads "LINCOLN, 3rd Ward, Mind Your Eye, WIDE AWAKES", and there is a picture of this Wide Awakes banner here.)

Now, obviously, with one T-shirt design it wouldn’t be possible to create a T-shirt for each specific locality (since I’d need to create a different design for each locality), so I had to settle for making a non-localized design. I based the design off of a picture of Lincoln often used during his 1860 Presidential campaign – the famous "Cooper Union" portrait, taken in February of 1860 in New York City, during a trip where he gave a famous speech that helped convince Easterners, and the nation, that he was a serious contender for President.

Closeup of the new "Wide Awake Club" Lincoln T-shirt by Lincoln Apparel. Copyright © 2010 Lincoln Apparel.

Now, in 1860, the process of "halftoning" – using dots of different sizes to print photographs and other images with gradients – had not been invented yet. So instead of using a photograph and having it printed with halftones on the shirt, I used a lithograph instead, which is what would have been printed in newspapers and on posters and the like in 1860. I artistically divided it into red and blue colors, since I knew I was going to use those patriotic colors for my design. I then focused on other common elements used in Lincoln election propoganda in 1860 – slogans like "Honest Old Abe" and "Railsplitter of the West", and imagery related to Lincoln’s frontier roots and his "Railsplitter" moniker, which I added into the lower portion of the design, under the lower half of the oval-shaped portrait of Lincoln.

Finishing up the design, I added 33 stars above the portrait of Lincoln – one for each state in the Union in 1860. (In fact, the flag that flies above the Old State Capitol is a 33 star flag – otherwise, it wouldn’t be fully restored to its 1860 appearance.) Finally, I added the text, "ABRAHAM LINCOLN for President 1860", below all of the artwork. I used fonts that were in common use on posters and banners 1860 for this and the other textual elements of the design.

All of these design elements come together to create a new original design, that resembles an 1860 Lincoln campaign poster or banner, and translates to the T-shirt medium well. Not that wearing something to support your candidate was necessarily new back then – people wore ribbons, typically emblazoned with their candidate’s picture, to support their candidate, just how nowadays, people wear T-shirts and buttons. So, in a lot of ways, the campaign T-shirt is the descendant of the campaign ribbon, except it’s bigger, like a banner. I can easily see Lincoln supporters wearing this T-shirt in 1860 if T-shirts existed then. (You can read more about the 1860 election in this post).

However, now you can show your support for Lincoln today (don’t you wish he could be president sometimes?) by wearing this T-shirt. It’s a cream colored T-shirt, instead of a white one, to make it feel old and authentic. Cool, isn’t it?

The new yellow "80s Abe" Lincoln T-shirt. The other three colors have been reprinted too, and are now in stock again. Copyright ©2009 Lincoln Apparel.

And speaking of cool stuff, my popular "80s Abe" T-shirt, representing a Lincoln for a different past era, one I love and that I grew up in, has been reprinted and is now in stock again. (You can read more about the creation of the "80s Abe" T-shirt here.) This time, I added a new color – yellow – in addition to the black, blue, and green colors, and the sizes now start at small instead of medium, since I’ve had people ask me why I don’t have any small. (I originally thought the design would be too big for that size, that’s why, but it really isn’t – the new shirts have the same 17×20 inch print as the old ones).

Interestingly, "80s Abe" has sold well and enjoyed a great reception amongst people of all generations, not just my own. I’ve sold that shirt to younger people, and older people as well. The 1980s were a time of great creativity amongst many different types of art and creative work; this goes to show that great art and creative work is timeless and appeals to any generation, much like Lincoln.

Another interesting thing is that "80s Abe" actually has no words (unless you want to count Lincoln’s signature). I think this sums up how I feel about T-shirts in general – the great ones need no words, just great artwork. I’ve never been one to wear simple funny text T-shirts; rather, I’ve always enjoyed making the world a brighter place by wearing cool artistic T-shirts. I love the T-shirt as an art medium since it’s wearable, so other people can see the artistic message, and spread it, instead of it just being something to hang on your wall, and because T-shirts provide a rather large "canvas" on which to "paint" your design.

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